I do not own Rosario Vampire or any of the characters.

Acting Strange

Damon watched with one eyebrow raised as Tsukune knelt in front of Moka worriedly. She'd been trying to get away from him, but tripped and skinned her knee. However, as soon as Tsukune was in front of her, he froze. His eyes glazed over, his hand resting on her thigh just above her knee, and stared at her blood. Just as he leaned forward slightly, she kicked him, snapping him out of his daze before calling him a pervert and running off, Tsukune trying to get her to let him explain. Damon smirked. Interesting. it had only been a little while since Kiria disappeared and Damon had been starting to get bored. He wanted Tsukune to start a fight with someone so he'd have something to do, but this would work for short-term entertainment.

"Well, well, Tsukune," Damon mused as he walked toward his first class. "You never seem to lack the ability to entertain."

He sat through his classes quietly before lunch, then headed to the roof. However, as he stepped up to the fence, he spotted Moka and Tsukune. Except, Tsukune was leaning down toward Moka's neck. Just as he opened his mouth, she shoved him away. Damon chuckled. Then, Moka collapsed and he stopped, watching as Tsukune quickly rushed her to the infirmary. Damon sighed, sitting down and eating his food. He stared at the cake on his tray in silence for a few moments. He hadn't gotten one for a long time. Not since the prank war started. Finally, he sighed heavily, eating it before heading back down to the cafeteria to return the tray. He walked toward the infirmary, only to see Tsukune heading outside. He followed at a distance, stopping just around the corner as something slammed into the wall, the sound of the wall cracking echoing.

A voice laughed. "Getting rough aren't we, Tsukune Aono? Well, I can't blame you for that. Seeing a babe like that, and not getting to eat her, of course you'd be frustrated."

"Who are you?" Tsukune asked cautiously after a few seconds.

Damon smirked. Maybe he was learning to not be so naïve.

"I know very well how you feel, because every day I bear this painful feeling of wanting to eat but being unable to eat," the voice said as Damon stepped around the corner.

Just as he did, the other man, a guy wearing a jacket over dark clothes and with shoulder-length black hair and a long centipede tail, sent his tail outward, slashing Tsukune across the chest with one of the spikes on the end of it. Tsukune shouted in pain, staggering backward.

The guy laughed. "But even when you eat you have to be satisfied. In other words..."

"Buzz off, insect," Damon said, turning to the vending machine, focusing his other senses on the guy. "You're annoying me."

"You've got some guts to be so calm when you see someone cut open like that," the guy said.

Damon glanced at Tsukune, but the gash was fairly shallow. "He's had worse." Damon smashed the glass, getting himself a bottle of water, turning back to the bug as it began to boil inside the bottle. "What's your name, insect?"

"Stop calling me insect!" the bug snarled. "My name's Hyakushiki. Don't hold a grudge against me for becoming my food!"

He shot forward, his centipede body's legs growing longer and sharpened as his fingers transformed into segmented, clawed digits like instect legs, but sharp. He reached Tsukune and Damon in the blink of an eye, stabbing down at them each with one hand, only for Damon to catch both hands, then turn, swinging the insect over his head before whipping him, sending its body crashing down to the ground. Then, he slammed a kick into its face, sending its human upper body rolling along the lower body, the guy rolling into a wheel before unwinding, glaring at Damon.

"You insolent little brat!" he snarled. "Just die!"

His tail shot around at Damon, and Damon caught the two blades on the back, snapping both backward and ripping them off, driving them into his tail before the tail shot away from him again, the insect roaring in pain and rage.

"Just stand still and die!" the guy shouted. "You're nothing but my prey! All prey has to do is stand still and be eaten obediently! I only took on this job to kill Tsukune because they said I could eat my fill! And if you get in my way, I'll kill you too!"

He shot forward but Damon leapt at him, drilling a punch into his face and sending him crashing to the ground.

"Someone hired you to kill me?" Tsukune asked. "Who was it? Was it the Outcast Ayashi?"

Just then, the freak's tail burst out of the ground in front of Tsukune, its back blades regrown, and drove one into Tsukune's leg just above his knee before retracting before Damon could catch it.

"I don't care who!" the insect shouted. "Just as long as there's something to eat! Isn't it the same for you?"

"W-What?" Tsukune asked.

"Don't play dumb with me!" the insect shouted. "Aren't you longing to eat your girlfriend? That's no different from me."

Tsukune's eyes widened in shock.

"I really know how you feel, because I was a student here too," the insect said, drawing himself up and spreading his arms. "Now I am living in the human world. Because I couldn't simply eat humans, I was frustrated. Especially when I was with my beloved woman, it was especially awkward. I want to eat her. I want to dig her guts out. I want to gnaw her bones. I want to drink my fill of her blood."

Tsukune gained a haunted look.

"Don't you feel the same way?" the insect continued. "You want to eat, yessssss? You gave off the same scent as me, Tsukune Aono."

"Hey insect, are you still running your mouth, or can I kill you now?" Damon asked.

The insect hissed angrily at him just as Moka screamed.

"What happened?" Moka asked, Damon raising a hand slightly, pointing at the insect.

"Moka!?" Tsukune gasped. "What are you doing here? Get away!"

The insect laughed, its tail streaking toward Moka. "You came at the right time."

Just as the tail lifted and twisted to use its legs to catch Moka, Damon crashed down on the tail, demolishing the ground, dark blood splattering out of the insect's tail where it was smashed open along the sides and top, coating Damon. Damon stood, allowing the tail to be yanked back, and grimaced. Flames erupted from his body, incinerating the blood coating his body instantly before the flames went out, a thick cloud of ash and smoke hanging over Damon.

"That was a mistake," Damon said darkly before grinning and snapping his fingers, Moka passing out instantly as his spell hit her.

Then, as the insect lunged at Damon, Tsukune's fist exploded into his side, demolishing a section of its tail before he pivoted, stepping around in front of the insect and drilling an uppercut to the insect's chin, sending blood spraying out of the insect's mouth. The insect crashed to the ground and Damon stepped up beside Tsukune just as he also passed out, collapsing. Damon shook his head. Looks like he wasn't quite ready yet. Soon, though, by the look of it. The Holy Lock was doing its job well. Faster than Damon expected.

"I should crush you like the insect you are right now," Damon growled, resting his foot on the unconscious freak's head, pressing for a moment before sighing. "However..." he trailed off as he recalled the circumstances surrounding the end of his family's war. "Looks like you're lucky this time."

Just then, a man in a white robe with his face hidden in shadow, his eyes seeming to glow, and a crucifix around his neck appeared beside the insect.

"So you're the one that hired it, huh?" Damon asked. "Testing your lock?"

"That's right," the man said. "You're a sharp one."

"Comes with the territory," Damon said. "Fair warning. If you and your tests piss me off, I've got your scent now."

"I'll bear it in mind," the man smirked, picking up the insect and vanishing, seeming to teleport, as he had when he arrived.

Damon snorted, and turned, walking back toward the school, leaving Moka and Tsukune to get themselves back whenever they woke up.

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